K'lrsa throws him out of her room.
In the middle of the night, Tarum comes to kill K'lrsa. She manages to kill him first, but he uses a poisoned blade in his attack and she collapses shortly after.
She awakes to find Herin at her bedside. Her wounds are fully healed and Herin tells her K'lrsa she has been accused by Balor, another poradom, of having an affair with Tarum. Balor claims he's the one who killed Tarum when he found them together.
The penalty for a dorana cheating on the Daliph is death by beheading performed by the Daliph himself. Herin leaves and informs Badru and the others that K'lrsa confessed to the affair.
K'lrsa is able to convince Sayel that she's innocent by showing him the healed scars from the attack. He tells her she was healed by death walkers, those who can also bring back the dead and are feared above all others, and agrees to stand by her side.
At the trial, Badru clearly believes K'lrsa even though the crowd is against her. Since Balor claims he subdued her by force, Badru proposes that they battle to the death to see who is actually telling the truth.
Before the fight, Balor takes a poison that makes him incredibly powerful. K'lrsa shatters her foot and Balor crushes her arm during the fight, but the poison eventually kills Balor and she's declared the winner.
Herin and her husband, Garzel, spirit K'lrsa away immediately after. Sayel follows.
K'lrsa and Sayel learn that Herin was the death walker who healed her wounds the night before in an effort to protect Badru. Herin says she learned the death walker magic from the former Daliph, Aran, who would use it to kill Garzel and bring him back to life again and again in order to torture Herin. She heals K'lrsa again.
Sayel tells Badru that Herin and Garzel are death walkers. Rather than turn them in to the temple where they'd be killed, he banishes them to their quarters.
K'lrsa begs Badru to let her go home and warn them about the threat from the Black Horse Tribe, but Badru asks her to give him three more days. He has her attend court where she learns that K'var was the one who killed her father and that L'ral, who was going to marry her best friend, F'lia, was the one who lured her father to his death.
One of Badru's senior advisors demands K'lrsa's death because he claims she cheated in the trial by combat. Badru replies that there are no rules to such a trial and that if she did poison Balor that was allowed.
Badru frees K'lrsa from being his dorana and brings her to court dressed as a Rider and places her at his side, something no one approves of. He calls K'var of the Black Horse Tribe forward and accuses him of conspiring against Toreem and sentences him to death.
Before the sentence can be carried out, the former Daliph, Aran, shows himself and demands his throne back. In the chaos of the ensuing fight, Badru is killed by one of his own guards.
Sayel and K'lrsa fight their way to Badru's side and flee with his body through a hidden passage behind the throne. They take Badru to Herin and Garzel to be revived.
All four are trapped in a room and running out of time. Sayel gives his life so Badru can be brought back.
Badru wants to stay and fight to regain his throne, but they convince him they have to flee.
They wait until night and then make their way towards the stables.
K'var is waiting for them. K'lrsa fights and kills him, avenging her father at last.
Herin, Garzel, Badru, and K'lrsa flee Toreem on the two Amalanee horses.
They stop outside the city and Garzel uses his sun stone to "awaken" the horses who can now fly. They leave before the guards can reach them, racing to warn the tribes that Aran is sending troops to destroy them.
About the Author
Alessandra Clarke has been losing herself in the worlds of fantasy novels since she was old enough to borrow her first book from the library.
She loves the worlds of Valdemar, Darkover, and Pern, and wishes she could live a hundred lives just so she could read all the books on her to-be-read shelves while still having time to write, take her pup to the dog park, and see her friends and family.
You can reach her at [email protected] or find her on twitter @writer_aclarke.
Her website is alessandraclarke.com.
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Also by Alessandra Clarke
The Rider’s Revenge Trilogy
Rider’s Revenge
Rider’s Rescue
Rider’s Resolve
Copyright
Text copyright ©2016 M.L. Humphrey
All Rights Reserved
Rider's Rescue (The Rider's Revenge Trilogy Book 2) Page 31